The Chris Chandler Show

Wishes and Beggars / Elevator Ring
Chris Chandler / Paul Benoit


I wish I could sleep for a day...
an entire day...
just sleep...
and OK OK dream..


I think I’ll Buy a bird today
Kiss it as it flies away
the walls are bare the floor is cold
the house is here
but no one is home
like a stone


Sometimes,
I wish for luck...

but wishing for luck seems... some how... redundant.

I wish I could confuse what i wish for...
for what is...

but I can’t...
because deep down...
whenever I see ships off in in the distance
I know it has everyman's wish is on board.
Except perhaps, the ones that actually are on board.

we are here so short
and then were gone
take a drink and pass it on
headed for the wishing well throw a coin and ring a bell
what the hell

Some come in with the tide.
Others sail forever on the same horizon,
never out of sight,
their dreams heckled by time.

Some
wish to forget all those things they don't want to remember,
and wish to remember everything they don't want to forget.

Me, I wish i could wish upon a single star but instead...
I wish upon a moonless night.


I tell you who wants you like I do?
tell me what will haunt you like I do?


I wish for the days of proverbs...
when people said things like:
“If wishes were horses... beggars would ride.”

Because, these days
wishes are a cardboard signs
that read, “Oregon.”
and beggars do ride...
often shotgun.

I love that about the open road...
When you stand, cardboard sign in hand...
listening to a west bound freighter
and wishing you were on it.

theres no rush take a bus and get away
wheres your crutch
wheres your Elevator Ring


There I was.. wishing you well...

when the wishing well started asking for small change.

So, I tossed your wish into the well

where it landed upon the wishes of others.

Together they gained strength.

For together, they were more valuable.
Together we are all More valuable.

For the dreams of others were reflected back from the waters...

Others saw this, and they too tossed their small change
into the wishing well...
In the hopes that their wishes
may mingle.

Feel just like a swinging door
inand out and gone for more
I think I’ll Buy a bird today
Kiss it as it flies away
Okay


And the wishing-well became wealthy. /

And we all prospered from a wealthy wishing well. /

But gradually, it came to pass, /
that no one really carried small change.

and the dreams of others began being stolen/
by ambitious pan handlers.../
until all the wishes disappeared.

The wishing wells were empty.


I tell you who wants you like I do?
tell me what will haunt you like I do?

No one wanted to wish any more


and the wishing well was replaced.

with one of those machines... you know the ones... with the cranes...
like at the truck stop...

where you feed your dreams in to the chip reader
and the crane come to life...
... and through the plexi-glass you watch...
your wishes sink their claws...
into a sea of stuffed animals...

and if you are lucky - very lucky
you too
could pick up the majik 8 ball (which, I did!)

theres no rush take a bus and get away
wheres your crutch
wheres your Elevator Ring


and I ran out in to the truckstop parking lot...
into the glaring hot sun...

and stared unto the inky abyss...

of the majik 8 ball itself...

to see if my wish would come true...

i adjusted my eye glasses...
to read the tiny white letters
that were forming a message...
which clearly read,
“The signs are unclear,”

So... I stood their in the bright light of day...
a west bound train roared by along the side of the interstate...

and I shook and I shook and I shook again... and the best I ever got was "Reply Hazy, ask again later"



I tell you who wants you like I do?
tell me what will haunt you like I do?


theres no rush take a bus and get away
wheres your crutch
wheres your Elevator Ring


So I got frustrated and threw the magic 8 ball back into the wishing well... and it landed with great big splash...

and all of the water spilled out onto the pavement,
and went between my toes... and i looked down... and saw... our abandoned dreams too were penniless... and even the well was dry.

So, I went Back inside
It was a small child’s Birthday
Every one was singing.
As they lit the candles
He looked to the heavens...
closed his eyes...
and blew them out...